Tangerine
by Her Sweetness
Summary: Ryou goes away for a week and leaves Bakura alone, he starts to hang out with Marik and Malik. But when Bakura begins to get jealous of Marik for still having his hikari, they battle it out over Malik… and he has no idea what’s going on. DONE!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing. 

Her Sweetness: Hello again! Gee, we're here already? I really had a hard time picking which fic to do next. It wasn't until I figured out that Tangerine would be shorter than the others I was thinking about.

I really don't know how long this will span, I can tell you it WILL NOT be as long as a long of the others I've done. Maybe somewhere around nine chapters, but that's just a rough estimate.

So… um, enjoy and review afterwards! Remember, I like getting at least five reviews per chapter! Thanks, again!

* * *

Tangerine

Prologue:

Rain from yesterday had washed away the filth into the gutters of Domino. Spring brought on about two weeks of rain the day and it was just about all the citizens could take. Of course, this meant not having to water the lawn and the cars… But going outside with a heavy raincoat and a umbrella everyday? They said no thanks to that.

Fortunately, today was the first day in a fortnight when little rays of sunshine flew through the blinds of the neighborhood's houses. But, one house, in particular wasn't very happy to receive any sort of sun.

A blue comforter ruffled slightly, the form underneath continuing to hide from the sun that had now fully filtered into the room. He was sure that he could ignore the sun for at least two more hours. And was ready to try, but before he could shun the world, a loud piercing sound shot through the entire house, shattering the boy's concentration on sleep.

"Gah!" Bakura emerged from under the covers, his hair spiked perfectly as if he'd never gone to sleep, "W-What? What is it?"

In a second, Ryou came down the hallway and peeked into the bedroom, smiling and waging his finger at the spirit, "Good morning, 'Kura. You know, you shouldn't sleep in this late, it's not good."

"What was that sound?"

He tilted his head as if thinking, then smiled, "Oh, you mean that high-pitched sound? (Bakura nodded) Well, that was just me singing!"

"… Ugh…" He fell back onto the bed, "Ryou, thank Ra, I thought someone was dying and I wasn't there to catch it on tape."

Ryou began to pout. This was not something that anyone wanted to hear. That their singing sounded like someone in an extreme amount of pain? Ouch. He carried on with dignity, though, walking out of the room and back down the hallway.

Deciding that he couldn't possibly get anymore sleep after hearing his hikari's high notes, Bakura got up and trudged out of the room, following Ryou without even putting on a clean shirt.

"La la la la la la la la…!" When Bakura came downstairs, he found Ryou dancing around the room, humming and twittering around. He had a duffle bag on the couch, open, and was currently filling it up to the brim. Over by the door were two suitcases both in different colors.

Bakura looked around, confused, "Bags…? Ryou, why are there bags?"

"Hmm? Oh, well you see… I-"

"No!" Bakura threw himself onto his other half, wailing and screaming, "Ryou, I knew it! You're leaving me, aren't you? Aren't you!"

"Well, yes, Bakura… but-"

"I'm sorry! I promise I'll change! I wont eat your mother's cats anymore! I'll brush my teeth every month! I'll pretend to like your singing from now till the day I die again! Please, please, please!"

Suddenly, Ryou busted out laughing. Bakura looked up at him, a bit annoyed when his hikari was laughing and he was in pain. "And what, may I ask, is so funny?"

He stifled his laughter to just giggles, "Um, I'm not leaving you for good, silly goose."

"… Oh." Bakura blinked and stood up, brushing off his boxers, "Well, I knew that. What do you take me for? And even if you did leave, I'd be okay, I'm ever the optimist, Ryou. So, go about your bag-business." He sat on the couch and sulked.

Ryou nodded and continued what he was doing.

In about fifteen minutes, Ryou's bags and suitcases were all packed and standing in a row by the doorway. He looked around the room quickly, making sure he had everything in place and when he was satisfied, he turned for the door, "Well, 'Kura, I shall see you in a week."

"What!" He jumped up, "What do you mean you'll see me in a week! You will see me everyday this week! And everyday after that! Where do you think you're going?"

He giggled, "I knew you'd want to know sooner or later."

"…" Bakura furrowed his brow.

"I going to England for a week, Bakura. To visit my father, he wants to see me." Ryou smiled, "Isn't this cool? I get to see him for the first time in two years."

"… No."

"What?"

"I said no! I don't want you going…" He finished his sentence with more of a whine then he meant.

"Oh, Bakura! You can't be serious!" The suitcase was put down and he went over to his upset yami, patting him on the head, "There, there. You'll be okay. Besides, what about that line you used less than fifteen minutes ago? That '_I am ever the optimist_'?"

"I don't even know what that means! I saw that word written on a wall right next to (bleep)!"

"Bakura!"

"What is it?"

"…" Ryou blushed, "Don't use that word in the house."

"…? Oh, you mean (bleep)?"

"Stop it!"

He folded his arms and grinned, "I'll stop if you say you're not going to England. Until then… (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep)!"

Ryou hurriedly clamped his hand over Bakura's mouth, "Listen to me! I haven't seen my father in two years, Bakura! He's always moving around, so it's hard for me to track him down. Would you want me to miss out on seeing him just because you're acting childish?"

"… Maybe."

"Bakura!"

"But, Ryou…!"

"Enough." He said firmly, turning on his heels and heading for the doors. The suitcases were thrown over his shoulder and he turned the handle for the door, "Okay, then, I'll see you in a week."

"Uh… wait!" He called out, trying to stall his hikari.

Ryou sighed, aggravated, "What is it, Bakura?"

"W-Who will take care of me…?"

"Oh, Bakura!"

"I'm serious, Ryou!" He pouted, "What if you come back in a week and unlock the door, only to find me on the floor, dead as a doornail! What would you do, then?"

"… Buy a puppy, I guess."

Bakura's eyes went wide, his jaw hanging down by his hips. "…!"

Ryou chuckled, "Kidding, kidding… No, don't worry, 'Kura! I've gotten everything taken care of. Of course, I can't allow you to leave the house without supervision… I have no idea what kind of havoc you'll reek. But, fear not, I'm having one of our neighbors come over everyday to give you water."

"… B-But, I'm not-"

"Good bye, 'Kura! I'll see you in a week, and I'll be sure to get you a little souvenir!" With a wave and a wink, the door closed behind Ryou and the door was locked. Bakura rushed to the front window and looked out at the driveway. He was hoping that his hikari was playing a joke, but as he watched the bags go into the trunk and Ryou drive down the road, Bakura was beginning to think this was for real.

He sighed, sadly, and sat back down on the couch, "… (bleep)."


	2. Escape

Tangerine 

Escape:

Across the street from a depressed and locked up Bakura, two Egyptian boys were spending the day in front of the television, playing a few new video games that they had recently stolen. Usually on weekends, the boys took a break from trying to rule the world. Everyone needs a little time off, right? Even psychotic villains bent on world domination.

Malik watched as his yami shifted the controller in his hand, "You gotta use your hammer! If you don't he's gonna-"

"Are you kidding me? If I use the hammer, it wont do anything, I have low flower power left and regular wont… Damn it!" Marik called out, realizing that Bowser had just killed Mario and his life was over. The end music played and Marik groaned, "I can't do this, it's causing me emotional stress. Malik, you're up."

"Yeah, okay, I-"

_Ring Ring Ring!_

Malik leaned back on the couch and picked up the phone. "Malik Ishtar speaking, who is… Oh, hi, Ryou! Are you going to the airport now?"

"Yeah, I am. I just left Bakura about twenty minutes ago." Ryou bit his lip while shifting the phone to his other shoulder, "You should have seen him, he was actually whining for me not to leave him!"

"No way. Man, I wish Marik would miss me when I went away."

Marik glanced at his hikari, hearing his name being said, "Stop talking about me."

Ryou laughed, "Yeah, well, I kinda got a favor to ask, Malik…"

"Sure, what is it?"

He cleared his throat, "I've been spending the last fifteen minutes trying to find someone in the neighborhood to come over to the house everyday to give Bakura water. But no one wants to do it! I even asked that old lady across the street. She had a heart-attack when I said his name and I had to call the paramedics."

"…Cool. So, the favor is…?"

"Could you baby-sit him for the week? I mean, only including going over about twice a day to give him water and make sure he hasn't destroyed the house. Just for a week, Malik, please! I'm so desperate!"

Malik blinked, "Sure, it's not a problem."

"Really? Oh, you are my best friend! I'm about to pull into the parking lot now, so I'll only be gone a week, I should be back by Saturday. Bakura's water bowl is in the bottom cabinet by the stove. He likes the faucet water to be served at two centimeters past the hot tap. And at around two o' clock he likes his belly rubbed."

"What?" Malik gasped, "Ryou, I can't-"

"Oh… one more thing, I think it would be in everyone's best interest if you kept Marik at home when you went over there. I've got nothing against Marik, but he seems to influence Bakura… You remember what happened the last time they were left alone together, don't you?"

"Eh… Ah ha, yeah, I do."

**Flashback:**

Malik waved at his yami and Bakura when he went into the gas station. His orders were simple. 'Just wait in the car until I get back' was what he said, but for some strange reason, forgetfulness seemed to be quiet contagious that day.

"Hey…" Marik looked over at Bakura who was in the driver's seat. Himself, being in the passenger's. "I bet I can drive this thing better than you."

"What are you talking about? You've hardly ever driven before. You ride the bus for Ra's sake."

"Don't be such a cow, Bakura. C'mon, are you scared or something?" He grinned, knowing how easy it was to bait the Tomb Robber.

Bakura smirked and turned the keys in the ignition, "Oh, you are so going to eat your words! Watch and behold my mighty skills of modern-day engineering…!" Marik sat back and watched as his friend pushed his foot on the gas, pushing harder than need be. It seemed to be going good, and Marik didn't want to be shown up, so he reached over to the gear and pulled it.

"GAH!" They both yelled as the car went zooming backwards, crashing into a large eight-wheeler and went backwards up the ramp, flying off into one of the gas pumps. Everything caught fire in a large explosion, fortunately Marik and Bakura had flown out of the car early in the accident.

People ran around in circles, screaming and scrabbling around. Malik came out of the gas station and starred at everything in a fiery chaos, and Marik and Bakura standing right in the middle of it, giving each other a high-five.

**End Flashback**.

"Guh…" Malik cringed, "Okay, Ryou, I'll leave Marik over here."

"Thanks, Malik, you really are too much! I'll see you in a week, good bye!" Ryou chirped and then the line went dead."

Malik put the phone back on the cradle and stood up thinking, 'I'd better get this over with.' He looked over at his yami who was glaring at him, "What?"

"Where are you going? And what was that about leaving me here?"

"Oh, you're such an eavesdropper!" He threw his arms up in exasperation, heading over to the front door, "I'll be back in about twenty minutes. Ryou's going to England for the week and left Bakura at home, alone. I gotta go give him water…" Malik decided to leave the part about rubbing his belly out.

"… Well, I'm coming, too!"

"You are not! You plus Bakura equals a fiery explosion, and we all know it's true. So, you just relax and I'll go over and take care of everything. Besides, I'm only gonna be there for like ten minutes."

"Bakura's my friend! I should be allowed to go over there too!"

"Ryou said no!"

"So what!"

Malik folded his arms and opened the door, only pausing to say, "This isn't some social visit, I'm going over there to do a friend a favor. Don't make me have to lock you in the house like Ryou did!"

Marik stood up, "What? Just you try it, you little-"

He slammed the door shut, not even bothering to lock it. What he said before was just an idle threat, he knew that, if he really wanted to, Marik would just break the door down. Malik continued to walk down the street, towards Ryou and Bakura's house.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the house, Bakura was trying desperately to get out of the house. Ryou seemed to be a very sweet, mild-mannered young boy, but to take extra care that his yami couldn't get out, he reinforced the windows with extra glass and made sure the walls weren't penetrable, fortified with an extra three feet of brick. Bakura sighed, nothing was working. He'd tried to send the door to the shadow realm, but he guessed that Ryou had taken care of that as well…

"Well, I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way, then!" Bakura huffed and rammed his head into the oak door. It sent him rebounding off the wood and he fell backwards onto the couch, "…Ow."

He looked up and the door was still standing, hard as ever.

"… One more time." He said to himself, gathering all his strength and charging at it again. But before he even hit the door, it flew open, Malik holding a key in his hand. Bakura went running right out of the house and looked up as he skidded to a stop. "… I'm free!"

"Oh no, you're not." Malik said holding onto his shoulder and leading him back into the house. Bakura sighed, 'This close to freedom…'

"What are you doing here?" He asked when Malik began to walk for the kitchen.

Malik turned around, "Ryou told me to come over here and water you. So, here I am. He gave me some instructions…"

Bakura blinked.

"… And I'm not rubbing your belly!"

Bakura folded his arms and sneered, "I thought my hikari left you instructions."

"…" Malik thought about letting that one go. And he did, strolling right past Bakura and into the kitchen. 'Okay…' he thought, 'Cabinet by the stove… Ah, here we go!' He picked up a large black and silver bowl, decorated with Bakura's name and Egyptian script and gaudy sculls. Malik blinked and looked back at Bakura, "…?"

"What?" He shrugged.

"Oh, never mind!" Malik rolled his eyes and ran the faucet water. Two centimeters past the hot tap… While he was doing that, Bakura was looking around, expectantly.

"Hey… Where's Marik?"

"I left him at home."

"What? What is with you and Ryou these days? Treating us like puppies or cats! We are human beings, we disserve to leave the house whenever we want! And I don't want to stay here any longer! I demand my rights! I'd bet my millennium ring that Yugi doesn't treat the Pharaoh that way."

Malik sat the bowl down on the floor, "Here ya go."

"I-I don't want water!" Bakura grabbed Malik's hand and headed for the door, "We're going to see Marik!"

"Ah! Oh no, we're not! You're supposed to stay here, and I-"

_Ring Ring Ring!_

Malik looked at the phone then picked it up, "Hello-"

"Shh… Listen, Bakura, it's me. I'm gonna get you out of there, but you have to get Malik out of the living room." Marik's voice was hushed and Malik recognized it right away.

He sighed, "Marik, Bakura's not going anywhere. I'll be back at home in a few minutes, 'kay?"

"What? Malik! Why you little-" Malik put the phone back on the hook. He looked back at Bakura who was on his knees.

"Please! Let me come home with you! I'm lonely! Marik's my only friend, please!"

"I'm sorry, Bakura, but I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Bye." He headed for the door once again, and when he was getting ready to leave there was a humming sound. Both boys looked around, confused. Malik cried out, "What now!"

And as if to answer the young Egyptian's question, the middle of the living room, the pink couch began to shake, violently. When the humming got louder, the carpet fell to pieces in a hole that was made. The couch broke in two and from the hole came a bright light followed by an auger. The drill, itself, was about as big as half the living room and when it surfaced, Bakura and Malik were cornered by the wall, quivering in fear.

"What the hell is that!" Malik yelled over the loud hum of the drill.

"How the hell should I know!"

The drill came to a slow stop and the light turned off. A sound came from inside as the top popped open and a spiky blonde head shuffled around for the exit.

Marik jumped out and dusted himself off, "Hey, Bakura!"

"Finally!" Bakura went running over to him, "It's about time you came for me. What is this? Where'd you get it?"

"Long story, actually, I was at the-"

"STOP!" Both Marik and Bakura looked at Malik who had staggered over to the auger, hyperventilating and gasping, "M-Marik, what have you _done_! Do y-you even know what… WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

"Well, it's not my fault. I just came to get Bakura!"

"You've completely destroyed Ryou's house! It's… it's awful! Ryou's gonna die when he gets back! This is a disaster! How could you do this!"

"If you would just let him come over like I told you…!"

"If you would just listen to me once in a while…!"

Bakura cringed, "Hey, hey, hey! Stop it! Ra, is this how you spend your Sundays? Arguing like some eighty-year-old, Jewish couple?"

They nodded, "Mostly."

After a moment of confused silence, Marik grinned, "Well, since the living room is totally destroyed… and Ryou's going to have a fit anyway, Bakura might as well stay with us for the week, right Bakura?"

He smirked, "That's right."

Malik's eyes were red and his fists were balled up. He let a breath out slowly, like they taught him in lamas class and said, "… I just can't win, can I? (They shook their heads) And since that's the case, let's go home…"

Marik and Bakura jumped up and yelled, "Yeah, baby!"


	3. Care and Raising of a Yami

Her Sweetness: Sorry for not saying anything last chapter guys, I forgot. You know, during this chapter, I had this little thing pop up while I was writing the first page and it took away my document! So, I had to write the five paragraphs all over again! 

…

And I forgot what they were about…

* * *

Tangerine 

Care and Raising of a Yami:

"Five thousand dollars? You've gotta be kidding me!"

It was Monday, around noon or maybe a little after and Malik was on the phone in the kitchen. He'd been calling contractors all morning long to get someone to fix Ryou's living room before he got back. Five thousand dollars was the lowest price that he'd heard yet, but it was way too much for his budget. But of course, he did have to find some way to pay for it. After all, he could just expect Ryou to come home and shovel out five grand for what his yami had done.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ishtar, but that is the price for what you've described." Came the man's voice from the phone.

"Ugh… well, okay. I'll take it. When can you come out?"

"Let me see…" Papers were heard and muffled voices, "Is Wednesday too late?"

"No, that's fine… Thank you." The line went dead and Malik sighed. It had only been a day taking care of Bakura and already he was in debt. He really didn't expect this till the fifth day.

"Bakura, will you come here, please?" Malik called standing up from the table. There were two voices in the living room and they sounded frantic. Then a bang. And at last, Bakura came stumbling out, his hair messy and he was sweating. "What were you doing?"

"Thumb wrestling." Bakura said, smiling, "I won."

"You did not!" A voice called.

Malik rolled his eyes, "Anyway. I've called a contractor and he said he'd be able to come out and fix the mess at your house on Wednesday. Since you can't go back to your house until Wednesday, I guess you'll just have to stay here… But only till Wednesday, alright?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"Besides… this might work out for me too. I mean, I wont have to walk down the street just to give you water and pat you. This way you're close by."

"Ugh! Y-You know, there's more to the care and raising of a yami than giving us water and petting us! I mean, there's… food, love, attention… I dunno, we're not pets!"

"Food, love, and attention? You know you just described how someone takes care of a cat or a dog. And besides that, don't tell me how to raise a yami! I mean, look at me, I have Marik and he's doing just fine!"

"Just fine? Look at how screwed in the head he is!"

"He came that way, it wasn't me!"

"Stop talking about me!"

Malik groaned at his yami's hearing of their conversation. He then smiled at Bakura, holding up a small round can that said 'Pretty Kitty Food', "Lookie, here. I have something just for you…!" He said in a singsong voice.

"C-Cat food!" Bakura looked pale.

"… What? You don't want any?"

"NO!"

He shrugged, "You're just strange you know!"

"And you know nothing about taking care of someone!"

"You're five thousand years old! You should know how to take care of yourself, you big kid!"

"Stop all this yelling!" Marik popped his head in, scowling, "I can't even hear SpongeBob! And you all need to - Ooh! Pretty Kitty Food!" He trotted over to Malik and snatched the little can away, going back into the living room with heart bubbles floating around him.

Malik looked back at Bakura, "In your face!"

"…"

The younger of the two grinned, watching as the other's face fell. He hummed to himself, going into the living room after his yami. Bakura followed, halfway sulking and halfway in shock that his best friend actually enjoyed cat food. When they got into the room, all the lights were off and Marik was sitting on the left side of the couch, chugging cat food.

Bakura sat on the other side, not wanting to get spayed by the bits of cat food that were flying around. Malik, naturally, sat in the middle.

"What are we watching?" Bakura asked, looking at the television and not recognizing the show. It looked odd, a yellow square who was singing and giggling, "… And why are we looking at dancing cheese?"

Marik tilted his head, "Mmf mmm? Mm mmf mfm, mmm! Mm?"

"Swallow the damn cat food, first!"

He blinked then swallowed, "I said, it's not cheese. For Ra's sake, haven't you ever heard of SpongeBob?"

"No. I only watch things like Silence of the Lambs. That's a good movie." Bakura nodded, smiling to himself, "That and Blood Bath 5. But don't go see Blood Bath 1, 2, 3 or 4, they all suck."

Malik sighed, "Um, okay, Bakura… Oh, I almost forgot. Marik, I found a contractor for Ryou's house. He's coming out on Wednesday."

"… And I should care, why?"

"B-Because! The whole thing will cost more than a house payment and it's all your fault! So, I've decided that you will be the one to come up with money for it. In total, it's going to cost $5,000. And that's why you should care."

Marik dropped his cat food can, "And how am I supposed to get all this money?"

"Oh, stop it." He sighed, "Just use the normal way we get spending money. The only change is, you will probably have to be on the streets all day to get that much."

"Isn't it your turn?"

"Yeah, but I did it last time. And besides, I hate doing that… It's awful and disgusting. You always have fun though, cause you get more people than me."

By this time, Bakura's jaw was on the floor. Being the kind of sick minded guy he was, he was thinking all kinds of things as this conversation continued on. Images ran through his mind and as weird as this all sounded to him, he really didn't mind the images.

"Um…" He decided to say something, "Y-You guys… do that? Walk the streets, I mean… for money…?"

Marik blinked, "Well, yeah. I thought you knew? It's a lot of fun, you should try it."

"Uh…" Bakura winced.

Malik growled, "It isn't fun. It's a pain in the neck to go out there every time we need money! And I always have to have the old people."

"Because that's all you can handle!"

"Is not!"

"Hold on! Wait a minute!" Bakura stood up, his eyes bugging out of his head, "You go out and… and do _that_ with old people? Old ladies? Old guys? Oh, that's absolutely disgusting! Even for you!"

Both Marik and Malik starred at him, oblivious confused looks on their faces. All of a sudden, after a moment of silence, Marik shouted, "Oh! I get what you're talking about, Bakura…! No, we don't do _that_!"

Malik looked at his yami, "What's he mean?"

Marik whispered it in his hikari's ear, the Light's eyes rounded when he was done. He stood up and cried out, "Bakura! That was NOT what we were talking about! What do you take us for…? We were talking about going out and robbing people on the street as they passed us!"

Bakura slowly sat back down and sighed, halfway laughing out of relief, "… Wow. Oh Ra, I thought you meant…"

"No!" Marik began to laugh as well. Malik didn't find this funny in the least. It made him worry about the things they actually did. What did people think when they saw himself and Marik standing on a street corner almost everyday?

As Malik contemplated this and the laughing died down, Marik went back to watching SpongeBob, and a little light went off in Bakura's head. He made a little whining noise in the back of his throat and Malik gave no notice. Bakura then nudged the Light's arm with his head and Malik looked down at him. He had positioned himself so that his head was on Malik's lap.

"W-What are you doing?" Malik squealed.

Bakura gave him surprisingly large eyes, starring up at him. "…"

Malik tilted his head, thinking of what he could possibly want. "… Oh no! Bakura, you said it yourself, you are not a cat! There's no way in hell that I'm going to do something like… rubbing your stomach!"

"Ryou gave you instructions, right? _C'mon_, then…"

"Ha ha ha! Yeah, Malik," When Malik turned around, Marik was right there, grinning and trying to hold in his obvious laughter, "You should do it if Ryou told you to. And don't you want to make Bakura happy?"

He didn't even finish that sentence with a straight face.

Suddenly, both Bakura and Marik busted out into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Malik bit and ran out of the room, upstairs, "You both are such losers, I swear!"

When he left, Marik calmed down, saying to Bakura, "Man, you're a real weirdo…"

"Tch! So are you."

He nodded, "I guess."

They sat in silence for a moment, until Bakura turned to his friend, "So, does that mean you'll do it instead?"

"What? NO!"

"… Aw, man…!"


	4. A Little Lonely

Tangerine 

A Little Lonely:

The next morning, Bakura woke up in a place he really didn't recognize. It was a lot lighter than his room, which was decorated in silver and black. He scratched his head and remembered that Marik destroyed his living room with an auger and he was spending the week with them. Well, Malik did say only until Wednesday, but Bakura thought he'd find some way to stay. Maybe hiding under the bed?

Suddenly, there was a yell and Bakura sat up in his bed. Momentarily thinking he was back home and Ryou was singing again. He got up and yawned then walked slowly downstairs to see who or what was being killed.

When he got to the first landing, Marik and Malik were standing by the front door, both screaming at each other.

"I'm not coming with you! This is your mess, so you're going, end of discussion!"

"Bakura is your responsibility! Ryou left him to you!"

Malik huffed, leaning back on the wall, "… You act like he's dead or something. He's only gone for one week and Bakura's probably going to be back home by tomorrow night. And that's why you're going out alone. I have to stay here and take care of Bakura."

Marik rolled his eyes, "You wouldn't even rub his stomach, what kind of baby-sitter are you?"

"T-The kind with limits!" He opened the door, "Good bye, Marik. Remember, it's five thousand dollars we need."

"Yeah, yeah…" As soon as Marik was out of the house, the door slammed behind him and he shuddered, still fuming mad. Really, Marik didn't mind going out and robbing the old people on the street. It was fun actually and served as a way to relieve stress after a hard day of attempting world domination. The only part he objected to was his hikari bossing him around.

"I-I mean where does he get off, anyway?" Marik mumbled to himself, leaning against a stop sign. He perked up when an old woman, hobbling with a cane, came down the street. "Oh well, at least I get to take my anger out now…"

"Hi there." He grinned at her, "What's up?"

The old woman looked warily at him, "H-Hello…" She said frailly. "I'm sorry, but… but I don't have any money that I-I could give…"

Marik frowned. She must've recognized him as robbing her before, or seen him stealing from other old people. He shrugged, thinking this would only make it easier for him, "Well, then… If you already know the drill… hands up, cash out."

This rather evil command startled her and she fumbled for her purse, "O-Oh…!" She shouted hoarsely, as Marik grew tired of waiting and emptied her purse. A few coins popped out and a few Maalox pills as well. The old woman blushed.

He growled and shouted out, "THIS IS RIDICULOUS!"

Immediately, every old person within a five block radius scattered away, including the old woman. Everything went so quiet, a cricket cold be heard, then it stopped. Marik sighed, "I hope Malik is just as miserable."

* * *

Back at the house, Malik was also relieving stress from his and his yami's previous argument. Whenever he was allowed time away from their often escapades as future world rulers, Malik would lock himself away in the attic which he turned into a fashion design studio. Of course, whenever he was out, he locked the door behind himself. If Marik found out about this place, he'd call him a lily. 

The whole room was decorated with manikins that Malik used for fittings and such. He was currently working on a dress that he'd spent weeks perfecting. Colors, details, laces… everything was tried out on it.

_Knock Knock!_

Malik's back bristled when he heard a knock at the door, "He couldn't be back already… Um, who is it?"

"I'm lonely! Let me in!"

Malik sighed, in relief and in aggravation. He took his foot off the pedal of the sewing machine and stood up, "Bakura, I want to be alone now. Why don't you go watch T.V or something like that?"

"…" A mumble was heard.

He turned around, "What did you say?" Then there was nothing. Malik groaned and opened the door and saw Bakura standing there, shuffling his feet, "What did you say, Bakura?"

"I… um, the television growled at me. S-So, I came up here…"

All of a sudden, Malik busted out into laughter, "Wh-What? It… the television _growled_ at you? How?"

He grimaced, "Well, I click a button and then the screen went white… then this growling sound came out and I ran up here…" Before waiting for Malik's reply, he walked past him into the decorated room, "What is all this?"

"Uh… B-Bakura! You can't go in there, that's private! No, put that down!" He called frantically as Bakura picked up the dress he was working on and took it away from him, putting it back on the drawing table. "Bakura…!"

"Why do you do this?" He pointed at everything, "Why haven't I been up here before? Does Marik know about this?"

"… You ask too many questions. And, no, Marik does not know about this." Malik frowned at Bakura, wagging his finger as well, "And if you tell him, I swear, I'll never speak to you again!"

"You barely speak to me at all!"

"… Still. Don't say anything."

Bakura grinned, getting an idea. He hopped on the table, leaning back, "And what if I do decide to say something? What would you do?"

"Bakura! You wouldn't dare!"

His grin didn't waver.

"Ah… Bakura, please don't tell!" He got on his knees, "If Marik finds out, he'll totally kill me!"

"… He'll do nothing of the sort. But I can't say that it doesn't sound like him… Anyway, I won't tell about your little pastime. But you've gotta do me a favor and actually take care of me if that's what Ryou told you to do." He folded his arms.

Malik sighed in defeat. What could he do? He supposed it wouldn't be too bad. This way at least he didn't have to keep a secret all by himself. He nodded, "Fine. Whatever. But you'd better not tell or I'll rub your stomach so hard, the skin will fall off!"

Bakura shuddered, "… Yeah, well…"

After a moment of silence, both boys continued to what they were supposed to be doing. Malik, working on a lace trim and Bakura counting the silver hairs on his knuckles. They sat like that for about thirty minutes, the only sound was the clock ticking in it's stoic rhythm. And before long, Bakura was actually getting into it.

"Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…" He continued, watching the second hand go round and round, "Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…"

Malik grunted, hoping that Bakura would get the message and stop his incessant ticking and tocking. Of course, he didn't. "Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…"

"Alright, stop that!" He shouted.

Bakura scowled, "… Well, what in hell's name would you like me to do? You're ignoring me by making frilly skirts and other girly things! I mean, sheesh… I know I'm not your best friend or anything, but the least you could do is pat me before getting ready to wear your dresses."

"What?" Malik whipped his head around, "You think I wear these? What do you take me for, a transvestite? I don't wear any of these!"

He smirked, walking over to a manikin, touching the sleeve of the evening gown, "Oh, really? Well, Mr. Ishtar, this pretty little thing looks suspiciously your size!"

"That's a size six! I'm a size four, you big meanie!"

"Uh huh…" Bakura transferred his touch from the manikin to Malik's midriff, pinching his stomach, "I saw you eating cupcakes last night, and for all I know, you could've let the dress out just to suit your extra inch."

Malik's eyes popped out of his head as he screamed, "WHAT? Ooh! What's wrong with you? Why are you like this?"

"You, of all people, should know! I'm annoyed, I'm cranky, I'm ignored and my hikari has totally abandoned me! Left me with some malfunctioning baby-sitter with a designing complex!"

"He hasn't abandoned you at all, he went to see his damned father!" Malik sighed and lowered his voice, feigning a look of hurt, "… And I do not have a designing complex. I just like to create things, that's all. I only get to do this when Marik's either knocked out or off doing something that I don't know about…. Sorry, that I malfunction."

Bakura sat back down and rolled his eyes, "I didn't exactly mean it that way, you know. And I didn't mean to say you malfunction either… you're just…"

"Unorthodox? Off-balance? A pain in the neck?"

"… Two out of three isn't bad." He looked away as Malik laughed. The clock said it was about three in the afternoon, and Bakura thought it was taking an awful long time for Marik to get back here. Continuing the thoughts in his head out loud, he said, "… always take this long?"

"What?"

He looked back at Malik, who was working at a manikin, "Oh. Um, I was thinking about Marik. Does it always take him this long to go out and rob people?"

"Not usually. But this time, he has to come up with a lot more than we usually do. Actually, all the money we ever actually need is money for soda and sandwich stuff. Ishizu pays all our other bills! Eh heh heh…"

Bakura nodded, knowingly and watched as Malik struggled with the pins. Two in his mouth and one trying to do something else. Finally, after five tries, he threw his hands into the air, shouting something about the manikin not being small enough to fit the dress. Bakura bit his lip, thinking, 'Well… if he's willing to compromise with me, then I guess…'

30 minutes, a happy squeal and few pins later…

"Bakura!" Malik's scorn held more happiness then sternness, "Hold still, will you? I'm almost done."

The silver-haired teen was standing on a chair, holding as still as he possibly could. Surprisingly, he didn't look half bad in a bright pink dress, frills and lace at his feet. Malik found it a lot easier to handle a live manikin than a inanimate one. Bakura was skinner than what he was working on before and they actually held a conversation, while Malik tried his hardest not to stick him.

"…Well, I'm trying, but - Ow!"

"Suck in your stomach, just a little bit more."

"You don't want a model, you want a beanpole!" Malik began to laugh and accidentally poked Bakura in the hip, "Oh Ra! Not there! That hurts!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!" He hurried to get the pin out of his flesh and just as sound as it was out, a sound of a door opening and closing. Both boys looked at each other in shock, "Marik's back!"

"Quick, quick!" Malik put all the pins away in more or less of a rush, while Bakura jumped off the chair and began taking the dress off. When Malik turned around, picking up different materials, he shouted, "B-Bakura, put some _underwear_ on and I'll go down and see Marik! Great? Great. Go, go, go!" With that, Malik was out of the room and down the stairs, meeting Marik in the living room.

"Uh… hi, Marik. So, did you get it all?"

Marik rolled his eyes and pulled out a roll of green bills from his pocket. Malik looked rather surprised and handled it clumsily, "… Oh. C-Cool. So, I guess you robbed a lot of people, then…?"

Marik noticed his hikari's more or less somber demeanor, "Art thou not pleased?"

"What? Ah ha ha ha! Yeah, right. This is great, Marik, and I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I was just cranky."

"Oh, that's lovely." Marik yawned, and jumped onto the couch, bouncing up and down, "So, I'm guessing we're sending Bakura back to where he came from tomorrow? Well, don't worry about me… I had to return the auger back to the rental place, so you know… No more underground tunneling for me."

"Well, Marik, I'm sure you'll be more creative next time." Malik rolled his eyes and he sat down next to his yami as he turned on the television ready for his daily dose of SpongeBob. Of course, Malik put up a large fight for the Golden Girls, but you know who won.

In about a minute, Bakura came down the stairs and hesitantly, sitting in front of the television, though trying not to show it. He really wasn't over how the T.V had growled at him earlier. During the break, a commercial aired that had a rather interesting effect on Bakura.

_Are you lonely? In need of companionship?_

_Do you feel like you're incomplete? Has your other half abandoned you?_

_Then call 1-800-LONELY-AM-I_

_Again, that's 1-800-LONELY-AM-I (Twenty dollars, per minute, per call.)_

Bakura rolled his eyes and looked over at Malik, who was laughing at something Marik said. He frowned, '… Damn it, Ryou, this sucks…'


	5. It'll Be Easier

Tangerine 

It'll Be Easier:

It was Wednesday and, earlier that morning, Malik spoke to Jack, one of the construction workers. He said that he'd be there as soon as his wife got dressed and made his coffee (which was more than Malik really needed to know). Marik, being the sleepy soul he was, decided to stay at home and let Malik let the workers into the house. He was a little more than confused when Bakura opted to go with Malik.

"…What do you mean?" He asked, sitting across from Bakura on the couch. Bakura looked at him for a second and then said something that Marik really didn't get.

"I don't know, I just wanna go. I-I mean, after all… it is my hikari's house they're fixing, shouldn't I be there?"

"Pheh. Yeah, right. The day you give a flying flip about Ryou's house is the day I become Mr. Terrific." Marik noticed his friend's glare, although it was not meant to be seen. Before Marik could say anything, Malik came bopping down the stairs, smiling.

"Hi you guys, I'm going to go over there now. Jack should be there any minute. Bakura, are you coming with me?"

Bakura got up and rolled his eyes, "Duh, I'm not going to let you screw up my house without my supervision."

"Sure, whatever." He smiled and walked out the front door with Bakura following, leaving Marik scratching his head and thinking about what had just happened. Since when did Malik and Bakura become so friendly? They usually couldn't stand each other. But he shrugged it off, thinking about more pressing matters. SpongeBob was on… again.

* * *

There was a large orange truck parked in the driveway of Ryou's house. Bakura and Malik had gotten there rather quickly, talking idly. A man, leaning on the door frame, who Malik supposed was Jack, looked up as they neared him. He had a beer belly and a tan that didn't cover all of him… in short, he was the basic construction worker. 

"'Ello, Jack Marsher here. Malik Ishtar, I presume?" He held his hand out to Bakura, mistaking him for the boy next to him.

"Uh, no."

Malik rolled his eyes and took Jack's hand, "I am. You're here already, that's good. Here, I'll let you in." He got the key out of his back pocket and opened the door. Everyone, including Jack's crew, whistled at the large hole in the middle of the room. The couch was moved over to the other side of the room and the floor boards were completely destroyed. They quickly inspected the hole and a few of the men jumped inside, climbing back up in a hurry because it went so deep.

"Ey, Jack, this hole here looks like a auger went through it!" On of the workers yelled, wiping dirt off his pants.

Malik held his head, "Uh, yeah, about that… We had a little accident with an auger and-"

"No need to explain, mate. We deal with this stuff all the time." Jack pointed to the truck and a few men went over and began getting tools and such. He looked back at Malik and Bakura who were standing idly by, "Looking at this hole, I say this might take a while… a long while. No worries, though, we'll be done by six o' clock. Maybe even earlier. I've got your cell number, right? You all gonna stay here or go off?"

He looked at Bakura, "Um, do you wanna stay?"

Before Bakura could answer, Jack smiled and said, "We could use the help, filling up this hole. A lot of cement's gonna need to be poured and the floor boards need to be replaced-"

"No thanks!" Bakura's mind was made up when he heard that staying meant doing something along the lines of physical labor. When Jack gave a wink and a nod, Bakura turned and left out the door.

Malik waved at Jack hesitantly, "O-Okay, then. Just call me when you're all done…"

"Yeah, yeah!"

He followed the way he saw Bakura go and caught up with him on the side walk. They looked at each other for a minute, and then Bakura shrugged, "Well, since they're not going to finish till the end of the millennium… What do you want to do?"

Malik blinked, "Do?"

"Oh, great, an echo." Bakura groaned, "Do as in, go somewhere. Don't you and Marik ever do anything other than try and take over the world and watch SpongeBob?"

"…" Malik had to think about that for a minute.

"W-Well!"

"Give me a minute!" Malik said, aggravated and continued to his thoughts. 'Let's see… have we ever done anything that doesn't pertain to those categories? Um… No, I don't think so. Damn it. Okay, okay…' Malik looked up as Bakura was impatiently tapping his foot. "Uh. I don't think so. Wait, does taking over an ant hill count?"

"… No! I-I mean, yes! Wait… Ugh, can't you ever give a straight answer!"

He smirked, "No."

"…" Bakura glared at him.

Malik got his cell phone out of his pocket and waited for it to ring. "… Yeah, hi, Marik."

"Want do you want, Malik? I'm looking for some more nuclear weapons on the internet and you're breaking my concentration."

"Real nice, Osama. I was just letting you know that the guys wont be done with Ryou's house till later on in the afternoon, maybe early evening."

"Oh, that's cool. So, you're going to help me with these anthrax missiles I just bought? I need to try them out on Yami and Yugi first."

"… Uh, well, actually me and Bakura are going somewhere to wait for the contractor to get done. I'll help you out later, okay?"

"WHAT!" Marik almost dropped the phone. Actually, he did drop the phone, but picked it up with great speed, so he could yell at his hikari, "WHAT IN HELL'S NAME DO YOU MEAN?"

Malik sighed, "… Marik-"

"WORLD DOMINATION CANNOT WAIT FOR YOU TO GO OUT AND HAVE A HAPPY PARADE WITH BAKURA!"

"What? You're so mean! I don't want to rule the world all the time!"

"Oh, I'm sorry…" His voice dripped in sarcasm, "I forgot this was just a part-time job for you."

"Well, I'm sorry that you think I should feel the urge to destroy anything and everything ever created! I'm not as sadistic as you are!"

"… It's okay, I forgive you."

Malik eyes widened, "Ooh! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you, drop dead!" He slammed the top of the phone down and shoved it into his pocket, yelling obscenities for about two minutes, before sighing and looking at Bakura who had just recovered from his laughing spell.

"… I'm okay now." He said calmly and then began to walk down the street, "Let's go Bakura. I'm going to Starbucks. You can come, if you want to."

"Tch. It was my idea, you're acting like I'm tagging along."

He smirked, "You are."

"Whatever."

* * *

Back at the house, it was about twenty minutes after the conversation Marik and his hikari were just engaged in. Marik was fuming mad, although he'd calmed down a considerable bit. After he finished ordering the anthrax missiles (on sale for $5.99), he decided to go out and figure out just what was going on with Malik. 

It seemed that lately Malik was PMSing a lot more than usual, with made Marik worry just a little. He knew his hikari was known for his theatrics and drama all over the city, but that "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you, drop dead!" thing he yelled made Marik anxious. Malik didn't know how to do curses, did he? He had been hanging out with Bakura lately and maybe he was teaching him death spells.

Just for safety's sake, he decided to go out and see what they were really up to.

He grabbed his binoculars, hit the side walk and was searching around the block, though trying to keep a low profile. He didn't want to be seen, so, using his expert spy techniques, he hid in the bushes.

It had been about two hours, roaming the streets, with his binoculars. He didn't see them and, without much to do, decided to people watch. Although, looking into open windows of woman's bathrooms and laughing got him stares and disapproving glares. After seeing an old woman take a long, steamy shower, Marik felt sick and sat down on a park bench.

He sighed, "Maybe they went in some dark alley and are robbing first graders…"

Marik always tried to look on the sunny side of things.

"You're joking, aren't you? I don't think I could stand that." There was a voice coming from near by that Marik recognized. It was Bakura's, and it sounded really close. Marik turned around and he was right in front of a Starbucks. At one of the tables outside the window was Bakura and Malik, talking about something or the other.

"Well, Ryou tells me you're not much better." Malik smiled, "Stabbing things and howling at all hours of the night."

"… I only did that howling thing once, it was an experiment."

"And the stabbing?"

Bakura winced, "You have to use what you're given. I'm given a dagger, I'm going to stab things."

"Heh. Remind me to sleep with one eye open."

Marik's jaw was hanging rather low. He couldn't believe this is what Malik said no to him for. And hanging out with Bakura no less. Since when did they become such good friends? And it was worse than he thought. They weren't out maiming and robbing people. They were talking in front of some coffee shop!

Marik growled, "What the hell…? How can you talk for so long? They must've been here for hours!"

Careful to not be seen, he hopped from bush to bush until he was two feet behind their table, so it'd be easier to hear their conversation.

"But really, I think you're the one who encourages this world domination thing." Bakura threw another plastic spork at a car driving by, "It's like… you're resisting too much, so he wants to do it more."

Marik gasped, "They're talking about me!"

"Well, wouldn't you resist when someone was forcing you to take over the world everyday?"

"…No. It'd be really cool, you're lucky."

"Lucky?"

"Yeah. I know you guys don't get your little plans right all the time. (Malik raised an eyebrow) … Okay, none of the time. But the point is, you'll get it someday. You know that and I know that. And when you do rule the world, I'll be right there sponging off of you."

Malik held back a few giggles, "Yeah, well… And anyway, how'd you know about all this stuff? This resisting and things like that, you sound a lot smarter than you are."

Bakura did his best to control his glaring muscles, "… I'm not an idiot, you know! I… I know… things. Really good things a-and… smart things, too!"

"Okay." Malik said and sighed, laughing as Bakura chucked another spork at a car, blinding the driver and causing a four way car-crash. Mangled metal upon mangled metal… the cops started to arrive and Malik thought it best if they leave.

Marik followed them everywhere they went that afternoon. From the boardwalk to the movies and back to the park. In total it was around six hours and Marik was stupefied at how two people could possibly talk about things for more than two minutes. And how they hardly ever touched the subject of world domination was beyond him. Although they did often talk about him, and he didn't approve, but it did seem to make Malik calm down. Maybe he wasn't mad anymore.

While they were kicking the ducks at the park, Malik cell phone rang, "Hello? …Oh, Jack!… You're done already? Oh… No, okay, we'll be there in a few minutes… Thanks, bye."

After that call, the walk back to Ryou's house took about ten minutes and the large orange truck was all packed up. Marik followed them to the door, hiding behind a garden gnome and watched as they went inside to see the entire living room look like new.

"Wow…" Malik looked around in awe, "This is great, you guys. Jack, you did a wonderful job."

He grinned, admiring his handy work, "Yeah, yeah! I even vacuumed too, you know, to go the extra mile." While going on in explanation, he noticed Marik peeking into the house, "Oh, ey, mate! C'mon in!"

Marik turned white as Malik and Bakura looked back at him. Bakura tilted his head, "What're you doing?"

"I-I…! Well, you see, I… was just dropping some landmines around the perimeter and decided to check on the house work…"

"Oh." Malik turned around, brightly, it seemed like he had forgotten their argument earlier, "Well… Jack, I made the check out to your company and it's all mailed."

"Thanks a lot! Well, I'll be seein ya." He waved and piled into the truck with his workers and the three boys watched as they drove away. After a moment of silence, Marik cleared his throat, "So, Bakura, your house is all better. I'll go get your bags, kay? Kay." He started to walk back to his house, but Malik's voice stopped him.

"You know, Bakura… You should stay out the rest of the week. I mean, if you want to, that is."

"_WHAT_?" Marik blurted out, covering his mouth when he received a glance from Malik.

"Why?" Bakura asked.

"… I'm still your baby-sitter, you know!" He laughed, "I'm just saying… it'll be easier. To keep an eye on you when you're staying at our house. Sound okay?"

"… Yeah, okay." He walked past Marik, a serene look on his face, "It's okay, Marik, you don't have to get my bags, now!"

Marik's eye twitched, "W-Wonderful…!"


	6. What A Boy Wants

Her Sweetness: Hello. Sorry not to say anything before, I only write at night and usually it's about six hours from six o' clock in the evening to midnight and maybe a little after. So, as you can imagine, I'm not always thinking so clear. 

And I don't proof read… usually. I'm too tired.

Anyway, we must carry on.

* * *

Tangerine

What A Boy Wants:

After a lot of mild objections and teeth gritting from Marik, the boys went back home, Malik and Bakura laughing mostly and Marik sulking. The rest of the evening was spent doing random things. Including playing video games, in which Marik lost horribly to Bakura, who really had no idea what he was doing and so it made his defeat all the more embarrassing.

It dawned on Thursday, the next day and it went by a little too slowly for Marik's taste. Mostly, Malik stayed upstairs for the most of the morning, doing who knows what. During the middle of the afternoon, Marik called Bakura to a rematch on Mario Party 3. So far, the game was tied, but Marik didn't want to tie with Bakura…. he wanted to leave him in the dust.

Since the fifth turn, they both were very quiet, concentrating only on the screen. Marik glanced at his friend, slightly, only moving his head to the right. Bakura noticed this right away and looked back at Marik. They both starred at each other for a minute, then a crashing sound brought them back to reality.

"Hey! My points!" They both cried, looking back at the screen as both Mario and Luigi fell down the slide, a game over sign appearing.

They groaned and after getting their lives back, and Bakura looked at Marik, "… What was that for?"

"What do you mean?"

"That glare. You've been doing it all day."

Marik thought about this for a moment. He really didn't know the answer. After all, he and Bakura had been best friends ever since they met. But why was there this weird, fiery feeling towards him all of a sudden? And since Marik wasn't really big on thinking about psychological stuff, he decided to change the subject.

"… Bakura." Marik said, when his friend put the game on pause, Marik thought, 'Let's see if he's really willing to tell me everything, like a best friend should…' He turned back to the silver-haired teen, "Hey, where'd you go yesterday with Malik?"

He blinked, "Uh… We went to a coffee place… then a few other places. I don't really remember all of them. But, I don't know why you're asking because you were there."

"Guh…" Marik turned white as a ghost and his eyes rounded, "W-What do you mean I was there? I wasn't anywhere near you!"

"Oh, yes you were." Bakura grinned, then continued to play the game, "I saw you in the bushes. I didn't at first, because I was talking to Malik, but then a saw a blonde spike sticking up out of a plant. And how many plants have rocker hairstyles?"

Marik sneered, turning back to the screen, "Whatever…"

"Aw, c'mon! What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me!" He growled, "And you know what I really think-"

"What's going on down here?" Came an exasperated voice. Both boys looked up and saw Malik looking down at them from the first landing on the stairs. They immediately stopped what they were doing. "There's yelling going on down here and it's giving me a headache…!"

"Sorry, Malik!" They both yelled at the same time, glancing at each other as they did.

Malik tilted his head and then smiled, "Bakura, I need you to help me out upstairs. Can you come up for a while?"

"Yeah." He nodded, walking up and following behind Malik while Marik stood there, stupefied. Malik barely even said hi to him. Actually, he didn't say hi to him, he just came in and collected Bakura. And just what was he going to help out with anyway? Upstairs? Marik didn't like this at all. And he may have just imagined this, but was that a smirk Bakura wore on his way up there?

He shuddered to himself, "It better not have been…!"

* * *

"Okay, so what am I up here for?" Bakura was leaning on the side of the drawing table in Malik's fashion design room. When they walked in, Malik immediately went over to the table and started drawing something. It had been about two minutes of silence till Bakura asked his question and Malik looked up, smiling brightly.

"Oh, I just need to adjust another outfit, so here you are!"

"… Am I wearing another dress?" He asked meekly.

Malik grinned and held up a pair of stark white leather pants and a silk shirt that wasn't sewn all the way up in the back. Bakura looked relieved that he could go back to being male again. In less than ten minutes, Bakura was standing on the chair, being poked and prodded with pins.

"So, what was all the yelling about?" He asked, beginning to work on the collar.

"Yelling? Oh, that was just Marik losing it."

"… Behold my surprised face." Malik frowned, noticeably.

Bakura smirked, "Eh, he's going off about something. Did you know that he followed us around yesterday? When we were waiting for all those construction workers to leave the house."

"What?" Malik gaped, "Why would he do that?"

He shrugged, which resulted in a pin going into his shoulder. Malik gasped, "Doesn't that hurt?"

"I've gotten used to it."

Malik blinked, "O-Oh… Well, did Marik ever tell you why he was shouting? Or was it just one of those rants he's so famous for? My bet is on the latter."

"Kind of. I think he thinks we were talking about him yesterday."

"… We were."

"That's why it's so funny."

* * *

Meanwhile, Marik had found the door of the attic. He was amazed yet again. This is the first time he even knew they had an attic. This was news to him. And the sad thing is he'd set mouse traps up there about three months ago, and he'd already forgotten. Not knowing exactly what odd things were on the other side of the door, Marik pressed his ear to the crack and listened in.

It wasn't all that clear, the voices were muffled. But, for some reason, he kept hearing his name. Marik growled under his breath, 'Damn it! I know I'm like the coolest person on the planet, but couldn't they go five minutes without talking about me…?' Suddenly, he got an idea. He rushed back down to the kitchen and got a glass out of the cabinet, running back upstairs and using it to hear more clearly. **(A/N:** Yeah, that works. I saw it on a TV show.)

"… and I haven't even been in touch with Ryou since he left." It sounded like Malik, "Not that I had a choice, he didn't give me a number to call."

"Why would you try to call him?"

"I'm a baby-sitter… What if something happened to you? I'd have to notify your par-"

"Don't you dare say parent."

Malik laughed, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm a yami-sitter, then. And anyway, if something happened to you, I'd have to call… your hikari."

Bakura said nothing and soon after the silence came the sound of a rip or a tear.

"Oh no…!" Came Malik's little shriek, "My pants…! I worked forever on those you know! Damn, now I'll have to redo the seems a-and pick out a new-"

"Hey, hey! Can we hurry this up? I'm almost naked because of your faulty clothing and I'll have you know that it's cold in here."

When Marik heard that last bit, he all but blew up. Immediately, he kicked the door open, yelling randomly, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!" Once the door was open and Marik was inside, he blinked slowly. In the center of a room with many different shades of colors and pictures on the wall with clothes all around, stood Malik and Bakura. Bakura on a chair with a white silk shirt, lacking pants. Malik was bending down right in front of him, holding a pair of pants in his arms protectively. Everyone in the room was silent, locked in a three-way stare.

After a lot of blinking and blushing, Marik was the first to speak. "… I… don't like this."

"Uh, M-Marik!" Malik managed to stutter, "Don't you have common decency? What's wrong with knocking?"

"What's wrong with knocking! I'll tell ya what's wrong with knocking! If you knock, you miss all the important stuff like your hikari in a dark room with your best friend! D-Doing…! D-Doing… STUFF!"

Malik folded his arms, throwing the pants inside, "We weren't doing the stuff you think we were, you pervert! I'll have you know, Bakura was modeling for me!"

"I have a pretty good idea of just what he was modeling..." Marik sneered and then turned to Bakura, "And what do you have to say about all this, Mr. Model?"

Bakura rolled his eyes and hopped off the chair, he grabbed the jeans he was wearing earlier and scratched his head, "… Well, I don't get what the big deal is. We didn't do anything, and I've been modeling CLOTHES for the past two days. And besides that, you should be thankful that you didn't walk in on Tuesday... Unless you wanted to see me in a dress or something."

Marik held his head, "… This is too much."

Malik tried to sneak out of the room, unnoticed, but he was caught by his yami, "Malik. What is this room? Why haven't I been in here before?"

"You're just like Bakura, asking so many questions…! But if you must know, this… is my designing room. Uh, fashion design."

He blinked, "And this is where you and Bakura go to try on clothes?"

"No! I just make them is all. Bakura is like a live manikin or something, he stands there and I adjust the clothes on him. He really is a wonderful model."

Bakura beamed and Marik scowled at him, and of course Bakura noticed this. Thus triggering a glaring and scowling contest between them. After two minutes, the tension was unbearable and Malik shouted, "Both of you just cut it out, for Ra's sake!" he turned on his heel and stormed out. Bakura started to go after him, but Marik stopped him.

"Just let him go. Sometimes, he just needs to wallow in his drama."

Bakura rolled his eyes, "You can't just leave him alone all the time!"

"I don't leave him alone! And how would you know, anyway? Before you moved in here you couldn't have cared less what Malik did!"

"Whatever…" He walked out of the room and down the hallway. Marik sighed and looked around. This room totally seemed like a place where Malik would feel at home. And maybe he did overreact just a tad… Bakura did have boxers on and everything. Pants aren't that important, anyway… Then Marik growled in aggravation at his thoughts. Not a thing made sense. He walked out of the room, going to where he knew Malik would be.

When Marik got to the bedroom, the door was open and he decided to go in even though he knew that Bakura would be in there. "Suck up…" he muttered under his breath. He soon was standing shoulder to shoulder with Bakura, although they didn't pay each other much attention. By the time Marik got in there, Malik was already pacing the room laying down guidelines.

"I can't imagine what you two's problem is. The day Marik drilled through Ryou's floor, you two couldn't wait to be together and do who knows what, but lately, I don't know… it's like you have some kind of vendetta against each other! I can't stand it!"

Marik mumbled, "He started it…"

Before Bakura could retaliate, Malik raised his hands, "Zip it. Both of you. No more of this, I'm warning both of you, one word and you're both going to sleep in the crawlspace under the house!"

They both shut up quickly, noting the dangerous tone in the young hikari's voice.

"Ah…" He sighed contently, "Exactly what I want… silence."

About an hour later, Malik managed to get both Marik and Bakura to apologize, though they did it stoically and without any feeling at all. They actually were civil to each other for a while and agreed to be silent while watching television. This night, they didn't watch SpongeBob, it was Golden Girls because Marik wanted to please his hikari, subliminally rubbing it in to Bakura. He barely noticed.

During the commercial break, Marik lazily looked over on the opposite side of the couch. His jaw dropped when he saw Bakura's eyes half lidded, and Malik nonchalantly rubbing circles on Bakura's stomach with the palm of his hand. Marik gritted his teeth and chanted in his head, 'Only two more days… only two more days…'


	7. The Boy Is Mine

Her Sweetness: Yeah, hey again. Listen, I know some people are probably reading this and are thinking "What the hell does the fruit tangerine have to do with this story?" And I shall tell you the answer right now… 

Absolutely nothing.

On with the story!

* * *

Tangerine

The Boy Is Mine:

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"Why don't you shut up?"

That's what Malik woke up to on Friday morning. The light from a rising sun came in through his window, lighting up the room and it hit the young boy's eyelids. His eyes fluttered open slowly and there before him were two other boys. Bakura and Marik were sitting on the edge of his bed, beginning their sissy-fight, and calling each other names. It was only when they saw Malik sitting up did they stop to greet him properly.

"… Hi, Malik." They said in unison.

"What are you doing in here!" He blushed a crimson red, pulling up his purple cover to his chin, "Get out right now!"

"I tried to tell him to stay out but he came in here." Marik glared at the pale boy next to him, who returned the glare shortly, then looked back to Malik.

Bakura whined, "I just wanted for you to wake up, 'cause I'm bored."

Malik scowled at them both and kicked them onto the floor, "G-Get out of here so I can at least get dressed, okay? Jeez!"

"Hey…" Bakura tilted his head, and crawled a bit closer to the bed, "I didn't know you slept… naked, Malik. Awesome."

Marik growled, "And you never should've known!"

"Oh yeah! I bet you didn't know!"

"Of course, I knew, you ding-bat! He hangs out with me more than you!"

"You call that hanging out? I call that forcing someone to kill and maim when they don't want to!"

"Like you have any right to talk! You kill and maim all the time!"

"On my own free will!"

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Malik yelled, his face red as a tanned cherry. He threw pillows at both of them till they stumbled backwards into the hallway. Before they could object or offer to help out, Malik slammed the door in their faces and turned around. Now naked in the sanctity of his own space, he fished around in his closet for some clothes.

'Good grief…' Malik sighed while tugging on his t-shirt, 'I don't get it. It's like World War 3 is taking place and I have no idea which country has started it… Wait, what?' He groaned, knowing that he was only succeeding in confusing himself. When his shirt and shorts were on, he opened the door to his room and looked down at two boys who were waiting patiently at his feet, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

"… What are you two doing?"

"Waiting for you, silly!" They shrieked and each yami grabbed an arm and began to pull. With Bakura tugging on Malik's left arm, and Marik tugging on his right, Malik was floating in mid-air, sliding left and right.

"Damn it, Bakura, let go! He's coming with me!"

"Why don't you let go? Malik wants to come with me!"

"I want to be on the GROUND!" Malik yelled, calling their attention and they slowly dropped him. He mumbled a thank you and cleared his voice, "Now… I can't go playing with anybody, today. I have stuff to do."

"I'll help you!" They volunteered in unison.

Malik sighed. "W-Well… I suppose I could use some help. I need to finish a few outfits I didn't yesterday. But Marik, you're going to have to help too, because there's too much-"

"I'm on it!" Marik smiled and ran forward, upstairs towards Malik's special room.

Bakura frowned as he and Malik walked up behind him, "… Aw, why does he have to help too? I can do a good job, Malik!"

"I know. But, like I was saying before, I have more outfits than you could possibly wear. This'll mean I can get it done faster and get on to my next activity."

"…Okay…"

When they got inside, Malik pulled up another chair for Marik to stand on, but first he had to put them each in clothes that he needed to fix. Marik got a black prom dress and Bakura was in a matching tuxedo. Malik decided to go easy on his yami and leave the high heels and corsage out. They both had absolutely dangerous looks on their faces, and any other person who looked at them would've peed in his pants by now. But Malik simply contained his giggles and continued his work.

"Don't move, Marik, or I might-"

"OW!"

"I told you not to move…" Malik took the pin out of his yami's bellybutton and carelessly wiped the blood off onto his shirt and continued sewing.

Marik was holding back a few tears. That pin hurt. Bakura noticed this and began to taunt him, "What's wrong, Marik? A little pin too much for the mighty future world ruler?"

"Shut it."

"Nya nya! Marik is a little- OW!"

Malik blinked, "Sorry. Don't move."

"In your face, Tomb Robber!" Marik chuckled to himself. He knew his hikari did that on purpose. He had to… didn't he? After all, this was his job. Whenever something bad happened to a yami, his hikari would be obligated to protect him. Though, he wasn't sure if that applied to fashion design.

"Ah." Malik stood up and smiled, "Perfect! Look at how good you look."

"Thank you." Both yamis said with pride.

Marik gritted his teeth, "He was talking to me…"

"Pheh… Yeah, right. Why would he talk to you? You're in an ugly old prom dress!"

"And you're in an ugly old tuxedo!"

"Ah… Hey! I made those ugly old things you're talking about!" Malik put his hands on his hips, glaring at them both who apologized repeatedly. Malik sighed, "… Okay. Listen, I need you to-"

Before he could carry on, Malik noticed how Bakura and Marik were elbowing each other, muttering something to each other and obviously it was something insulting because of the growls that came with each remark. Malik was about to put a stop to it but, suddenly, Marik lunged at Bakura, tackling him to the floor. They spent about a minute slapping each other horribly, hoping to break a jaw or two. Then Bakura, kicked Marik off of him and proceeded to rip the top of his dress off. Marik, for a minute, thought he actually had boobs and hid his chest, squealing. But once he realized he was a boy, he ripped the bowtie off of Bakura, taking his jacket as well.

It was like mud-wrestling. Minus the mud and nudeness. As they continued to knock each other's brains out, Malik finally noticed that it was his clothes that they were ripping off of each other. He jumped in the middle of them and yelled at the top of his lungs, "STOP!"

Immediately, Marik stopped punching and Bakura stopped kicking, only stopping for fear of hitting Malik. They each looked down at their bodies and new why Malik had stopped them.

"…Oops."

"OUT! OUT! OUT!"

Both yamis quickly scurried out of the room. It slammed behind them and a stream of obscenities echoed and were running through their ears. Marik and Bakura's names were also used a numerous amount of times and they cringed each time they heard their name called, accompanied by a (bleep) or a (bleep).

"Uh… do you think he's mad at us?"

"… He's mad at you."

"Oh! And why not you?"

"Listen." They both pressed their ears to the crack of the door and then Bakura finished saying, "Cause he's saying your name more than mine."

"Yeah… well, when he says my name, it's a call of praise."

Bakura rolled his eyes and slumped down, whining softly at the door. A few minutes past, and the screaming stopped. Both boys noticed the lack of angered shrieks and waited for something… anything to happen. Suddenly, the door slowly opened and Malik walked out, pasted the yamis and downstairs.

"U-Uh, Malik…!" Marik called, walking downstairs after his hikari and Bakura in tow. "Malik, are you mad?"

He turned around, causing both Marik and Bakura to stop in their tracks, waiting for a reaction. Malik sighed in defeat, "… No, Marik. I'm not mad… at either of you. The outfits weren't exactly what I wanted anyway. Besides that, I should've known better. Like I said before, you plus Bakura equals fiery explosion… Or ruined prom dresses."

"… Don't forget the tux." Bakura added.

Marik elbowed him.

Malik nodded, "The tux, too. Anyway, I have something to do in the kitchen, so I'll see you later." He trotted into the kitchen and Bakura and Marik walked in after him. Malik was already taking out pots and pans and assorted ingredients, for what the boys didn't know.

"I'll help you!" They shouted, scaring Malik half to death, for he was not aware of their presence.

"N-No way. Uh-uh. I'm not going to let you guys destroy my apple pie as well!"

Marik blinked, "A-Apple pie…?"

"That's right." He pointed out the window, "You know that old lady down the street? She's always bruised and beaten up, so I take it upon myself to bake stuff for her. And she always likes it."

Bakura turned to Marik, "Isn't that the old woman you two harass and beat up all the time."

"Yeah."

"Ugh." Malik shuddered, "That's why I do this. To make up for our… beatings." He turned around and got out a few apples from the refrigerator. Just about to peel them, Malik took out a knife and looked over to the left. He sighed when he saw two pairs of large, glossy eyes starring at him. One pair a deep purple and the other a soft brown. They were even whining.

Malik groaned, "Oh, stop it…! Look, if you really want to help and you swear you won't fight, I guess… you can peel the apples."

"YAY!" They flounced around the room and grabbed knives, causing Malik to duck for his own safety. Then Marik grabbed an apple and began to vigorously cutting into it. Bakura did the same and soon apple peels were littering the floor. Malik frowned and sighed, 'They better pick those up.'

While Malik was baking the crust, he overheard a small conversation that his yami and Bakura were having. They were whispering, hoping that Malik wouldn't notice. Marik was grinning at his friend, "Hey, Bakura… I bet I can cut faster than you."

"Oh, yeah? Fine, then. On the count of three."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

At once, both boys started to furiously race the knives around the apples, chopping off most of the apple and not the skin. After nearly two seconds, they threw the scarred and scraped apples onto the floor. Marik yelled, "I won!"

"You did not! I threw mine down about a millisecond before you!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"You guys, stop-" Malik began but was stopped when both boys held their knives in front of his face to stop his advances. Malik thought for a minute that he was going to faint. Bakura then shook his knife in Marik's face, yelling, "No way! I won and that's that! Isn't that right, Malik!"

"Well, I don't really-"

Marik growled and stuck his knife to Bakura's nose, "No, Malik knows that I won! Isn't that right, Malik!"

"You see, I can't-"

All of a sudden, Bakura jumped on Marik and they rolled onto the floor punching and kicking. Malik was in hysterics, he thought for sure this would be the end of it. With those knives in their hands, they could kill each other. If Bakura dies, Ryou will come back and kill him. And if Marik dies, Malik would have to kill Bakura and Ryou would come home and kill him. Either way, he's going to die if those two each other. "S-STOP! PLEASE STOP, PLEASE!"

Both boys barely ceased their fighting this time and continued. Malik decided the only way was to jump in again and so that's what he did. Hoping that he wouldn't get stabbed, he threw himself into the fight and screamed again, "STOP!" Marik and Bakura stopped and looked at Malik who was shielding himself with his hands.

"Malik!" Marik yelled, "That was dangerous, you idiot, you could've been killed!"

"Oh Ra…" Bakura threw his knife onto the floor and sighed, in a disbelieving tone, "I could have totally stabbed him…!"

Malik panted as he stood up, "W-Well, I'm sorry but I would've died either way! If Bakura died, Ryou would've killed me and if Marik died… Well either way I'd die by Ryou's hand! I-I mean, I've got one yami who wont stop picking fights with the other and I've got another yami who complains about nothing at all! I can't handle this!"

Bakura tilted his head, "Which one am I?"

That's when Marik blew up. He looked at Malik while pointing at Bakura, who was still sitting on the floor, "That's it! Malik! You do not have TWO yamis! You have only one! See? One! And that's me! And you, Bakura, I thought you were my best friend! You're totally trying to steal my hikari, and I'm not going to let that happen! You hear me? Malik is mine! All mine!"

He threw his knife to the opposite side of the room, which broke the window and he stormed off into the living room, yelling over and over again, "Mine, all mine!"

Malik threw his hands up in exasperation, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS HOUSE!" Screaming even more when he remembered the apple pie crust, burning in the oven.


	8. Motives For The Desperate

Her Sweetness: Hi, you guys. Thanks for all the reviews thus far. I swear, this has gotten more than I would've thought, but then again, you guys are always taking me by surprise. 

… Eh, usually it's for the better. Heh heh. And this is one of those times! Huzzah.

* * *

Tangerine

Motives For The Desperate:

The rest of the night was spent in mostly silence. Well, between Marik and Bakura mostly. Malik tried to talk to his yami, but he was not in a listening mood. He threw a balled up piece of paper at Malik when he came in his room and even though the paper didn't hurt at all, it still made him a bit upset that Marik didn't want to talk to him. And it was a change because usually, Marik never shut up.

And of course, Bakura wasn't about to go anywhere near Marik. There was electricity between them as it is, and although they were supposedly best friends, he didn't want to push his luck or his temper. But Malik and Bakura did hang out that night. Talking about random things and trying to fix the apple pie. Didn't end well, but they had a few laughs anyway.

After a week of strange and unexplainable things happening to all of them, no one really noticed when Saturday arrived. The sun rose over the horizon and the birds chirped and that was about it.

Malik decided to sleep in that day. Actually, he didn't really decide, it just happened. And because it happened, Bakura had no one to play with.

He sighed, looking down at the tanned boy snuggled just beneath the covers, 'Eh… what am I supposed to do now?' Bakura thought that maybe waking him up wouldn't be so terrible. After all, since they'd stayed up half the night and it was about eight o' clock in the morning, Malik had about four hours of sleep. Wasn't that enough?

Just as he was about to tap the hikari on the head, a harsh whisper rang through the room. "Bakura…! Get away from there."

Bakura whirled around and saw Marik glaring at him from the threshold of the door. He groaned under his breath and whispered back, "What do you want?"

"To talk to you. Come here."

"…" He shrugged and followed when Marik left down the hallway. Marik didn't turn around to face him till they entered the living room. Bakura sat down on the couch and Marik sat down on the other side, neither boy brave enough to sit within a foot of the other.

"… So? What do you want to say to me?"

Marik looked like he was caught off guard, he regained his composure quickly and sighed, "Well… uh, first of all, don't go waking Malik up this early in the morning. You've been here long enough to know that he likes to sleeps in late…"

"Tch! Whatever, the only reason I was waking him was because, one, you told me not to, and I love forbidden things…" He grinned, shifting in his seat, "And two, Malik's the only person that talks to me since you've gotten all stuck-up."

"Stuck-up? What the hell! Just what do you mean stuck-up? You're the one stuck ON my hikari!"

"For Ra's sake, he's my friend, okay, Marik? You can't expect me to stay in this house for a week and when you go haywire, and just talk to myself like some kind of loon!"

"Oh, yes I can! A-And I didn't go haywire, I have a valid reason for being pissed at you! For the past three days, you've done nothing but hang out with Malik incessantly! It's like he's the only person you want to talk to!"

"He's the only person who WILL talk to me! Unlike you! For the past three days, you've been acting weird saying things like 'He's mine' and stuff like that. I'll have you know that Malik doesn't like it."

Marik's eyes went wide and he stood up off the couch, "He doesn't like it, huh? And just how would you know that, Bakura? Wait, don't answer that. And anyway, I don't care if either of you like it, it's the truth, he's my hikari!"

Bakura rolled his eyes, half sneering and half grinning, "Y-You are so possessive! Malik is not… some piece of meat! He's a hikari!"

"Uh, yeah. _MY_ hikari! Like I've been saying for the past three days…" Marik stopped and thought to himself. This didn't start right at the beginning of the week, did it? No, it was only when he remembered Bakura keep repeating 'I'm lonely' over and over again. Of course, he was not supposed to hear it, because he was talking to Malik, but Marik knew how to eavesdrop just as good as the next guy. Then an idea dawned on him that he really didn't bother to even think about before. He looked over at Bakura for a minute, an unreadable stare on his face.

"… What?" Bakura winced, "Do I have something on my face or something?"

Marik only grinned, "Why do you think you need to be Malik's friend so badly?"

"I-I don't need anything! I'm telling you, Marik, you're taking this way out of proportion. I mean, I like Ryou and I just want him-"

"Ryou…?"

"What?"

He blinked a few times and walked two steps closer to Bakura, "Ryou. Ha! Oh Ra, you said Ryou! You replaced Malik's name with Ryou's!"

"I... I did not…! I said Malik. I said I liked _Malik_!"

"Mmm-hmm." Marik nodded to himself, smiling, "I get it now. You're upset about Ryou leaving so, you're replacing him with Malik. Damn, Bakura, who knew you'd be so desperate for a hikari in your life…"

"WHAT? YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!" Bakura shot up from his seat, "I'm not using Malik as a replacement! And you want to talk about desperate? You're the one whose jealous because I've been with Malik the whole week! When Malik asked me to stay on Wednesday, you think I didn't see that look of despair, but I did!"

"What look of despair!"

Bakura batted his eyelashes and flounced around the coffee table, "Oh, poor me…! My best friend is stealing my Light and there's nothing I can do about it! So, I'll just make up digesting lies about him replacing his hikari…!" He stopped his imitation of Marik and folded his arms, "That's what I mean."

"Oh, drop dead!"

"Make me!"

"Fine, I will!" Almost immediately, Marik jumped on top of Bakura and wrestled him to the ground. Yesterday's two fights were nothing compared to this. It seemed that they both hit the wrong button on each other and were now paying the price. Bakura kicked Marik in the stomach and tackled him, when they rolled over, Bakura's back hit the television and a lamp fell off and hit the floor with a loud crash. It broke into a million pieces and that's what caused Malik to sit up in his bed suddenly. He held his head and moaned.

"Oh… What was that?"

It was then that another sound registered, and it was yelling. One sounded familiar… his yami. And of course the only other person he could possibly be yelling at is… 'Oh, Ra, they're not fighting again, are they…?'

Malik threw the covers aside and was about to run out the door, but he forgot that he was naked. So, he had to quickly tug on a pair of jeans and then stumbled down the staircase, tripping over the last stair. He fell face first into the living room and landed on the coffee table, breaking it and falling into Marik and Bakura's fistfight.

"S-Stop it! It's m-me, Malik, please stop!" He shielded himself from falling punches and teeth that were biting all too hard. "Cut it out!"

Marik eased back and pushed Malik out of the way. Before Marik could attack Bakura again, Malik stepped in the middle of them and yelled, "ALRIGHT, STOP IT RIGHT _NOW_!"

"Get out of the way, Malik." Bakura ordered, scowling at the boy behind him, "This is between me and your 'yami'."

"I am his yami and don't you forget it you hikari-stealer!"

"Don't start that again, Marik!"

Malik looked from teen to teen, "Just what are you talking about? Spit it out, I wanna know, for Ra's sake!"

Marik raised his eyebrow at Bakura, "Well, Malik, Bakura has been hanging around you so much the past week because he's using you as a replacement hikari. You know, since Ryou's gone and everything. Instead of just toughing it out, he goes and tries to steal you from me!"

"…Huh?"

"That's not true!"

"Yes, it is!"

"Ah, stop! Listen, I don't want to have to-"

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_

Malik stopped and looked at the phone that was ringing by the edge of the couch. He inched away from the spot in between Marik and Bakura, while telling them both to be absolutely still while he answered the telephone. They didn't say anything just continued to glare at each other.

He picked up the phone and started, "Hello? Ah, Ryou…!"

"Hello there, Malik." Came Ryou's perky voice, bright with enthusiasm, "I've just come out of the airport and I'm heading back to my house! Where are you?"

"Uh… Um, I-I…" Malik was really in a predicament. He distinctly remembered Ryou telling him not to let Marik and Bakura mix. And here he was in a house with two yamis who couldn't keep their hands off each other. And not in the comforting way, either. He decided to try to tell the truth and see if it sounds less damning when he said it out loud. "Well, Ryou… I'm over at my house…"

"Oh, okay. Well, after I stop by my house to check on Bakura, then I'll come over and say hi to you!"

Malik nodded unsurely, "A-About that… If you want to check on B-Bakura, you're going to have to… come over here."

"WHAT!"

He cringed. But before he could explain to Ryou who was having a nervous breakdown over the phone, another crash was heard in the back round. He whirled around and saw that Bakura had bit Marik and he, in turn, slammed him against the wall. Bakura pushed his hands off his shoulder and yelled, "Alright, Ishtar, if you really want to go down this road then I have no choice…!" His millennium ring began to glow and slowly lifted off his chest, "You're going to the shadow realm!"

"Pheh." Marik grinned, pulling out his millennium rod from his belt loop, "Bring it on, hikari-stealer."

"Oh no!" Malik threw the phone down and ran over to them, "NO! Cut it out right now, stop! You can't do this! Marik! Bakura!"

The millennium rod began to glow and Marik quickly glanced at his hikari, "Malik, will you stay out of this? It doesn't concern you!"

"Like hell it doesn't!" He got down on his knees in front of Bakura and pleaded, "Please, Bakura, can't we talk this out?"

"Marik's way too hardheaded to talk about anything!"

"I tried to talk to you first, but you went ballistic on me, Bakura, and now it's too late for you to turn back, this is it! Malik, go!"

"U-Uh… How about this, whoever stops trying to send each other to the shadow realm first, gets a piece of candy…! Yummy?"

Bakura took Malik by the shoulder and pulled him aside. Although Malik was struggling against him, he was being held with minimum strength. He's screaming was muffled as a flash of white light came, generated by two millennium items.


	9. Epologue

Tangerine 

Epilogue:

The white light blinded everyone in the room and the last thing Malik remembers thinking before the light died down was, 'Oh Ra. I know it, I just know one of them is going to go the shadow realm…! What am I going to do?' It was less than a second later when it stopped and Malik found himself in a ball on the floor. He looked up immediately and found both Marik and Bakura standing in a state of shock on either side of the sofa. Malik blinked.

"A-Are you guys okay…?" He asked, sitting up and looking at them both.

They nodded unsurely.

"Good! Because now I'm going to kill you!" Malik jumped on Marik and slammed him to the ground, yelling about how stupid he was. And when he noticed Bakura tiptoeing away, he tackled him and gave him a few lumps as well. No, neither of them escaped.

"W-Wait a minute…!" Bakura gasped holding Malik by his forearms, "If we're still here, then what the hell did we send to the…?"

Malik scanned the room and looked over by the wall, "My TV! Oh no…" He huffed at the empty space that used to harbor their giant screen television. After saying a small prayer, he whirled around, "Now which one of you sent my television to the shadow realm!"

"He did it!"

"No, he did it!"

"Are you kidding me? I didn't send the damned TV to the shadow realm! That's a beginner's mistake! And I, for one, am no beginner. That's you." Marik folded his arms and muttered under his breath, "Hikari-stealer…"

"Say that to my face, Ishtar!" Bakura called, shaking his fist at the tanned boy.

Marik strutted up to him and stuck out his tongue, "Hikari-stealer, hikari-stealer, hikari-stealer!"

Bakura grabbed Marik's tongue and began to yank on it again and again while Marik's eyes went wide and he yelled incomprehensible things. Bakura was taking delight in this as he grinned and pulled harder, "Say you give up!"

"Mmf mm mmmf!" Marik mumbled, glaring up at Bakura. He took this as a challenge and they started fighting with their fists again. Malik was biting his nails on the edge of the scene, he wasn't as scared about them sending each other to the shadow realm now, but he feared for his beautiful furniture.

"W-What's going on in here…!"

Malik, Bakura and Marik stopped in their tracks, looking around the room slowly, searching for the source of that question. Their gaze quickly landed on the front door and the pink-haired boy who was standing in the doorway, a suitcase in his hand and a confused frown on his face. When no one said anything, he repeated his question yet again, "Uh… what's going on in here?"

"RYOU!" They all yelled. Malik was the first to run over to him and tackle him in a bone-crushing hug. "O-Oh, Ryou…! Y-You have no idea how happy I am to see you… no idea!"

He caught himself before he fell back from the force of Malik's hug, "W-Well, I'm glad to see you too, Malik… But I'm also extremely disappointed in you." His soft smile changed to a look of annoyance.

"B-But what did I do?" Malik wore a smile of unbelievable innocence, though he already knew what Ryou meant by being disappointed in him, "Oh… Listen, Ryou, I know what you said about keeping the yamis separate, but you don't understand, you see-"

"Finally!" Marik was up on his feet, and brushing himself off and pointing towards the pale boy standing next to him, "Ryou, it's about time! Bakura was trying to send me to the shadow realm!"

"No way! You started it!"

"I did not, that was all you!"

"One of you sent my precious television to the shadow realm!"

"Stop it right now." Ryou said calmly and walked over to the spot where the television once was. He looked at the empty spot then back at all three of the boys. "Now, without fighting or screaming, I would like someone to tell me what has been going on in my absence. And Marik, I pick you."

He grinned and cleared his throat, "Well, Ryou… it's kind of a long story, but oh well…! See, when Malik first went over to your house, Bakura was all upset because he was lonely. Eh, so, I kinda thought it would be a cool idea if Bakura could come over to our house. I drilled through your floor and broke him out… Little did I know that he was a hikari-stealing leech that is a lousy best friend!"

Ryou blinked, "… You drilled a hole in my home, Marik?"

"Ah, well…!" He shuffled his feet, "I-I did go out a steal the money for it to be fixed."

Bakura nodded, "And that's when the construction workers came and me and Malik went to a bunch of places and Marik followed us around!"

"And then Bakura started wearing dresses for Malik and he rubbed his stomach!"

"Then he tore off MY dress!"

"He sent the television to the shadow realm!"

"S-STOP!" Ryou cried, waving his arms about to get their attention, "Please… I don't think I quite understand… This is all so confusing."

Malik shook his head and bit his lip, "Ah… Okay, Ryou, let me have a go at it. You see, ever since I let Bakura stay over here, due to a little accident… They've been at each other's throats. And today, they almost sent each other to the shadow realm because Marik said Bakura was replacing you with me."

Ryou raised his eye brow at the silver-haired yami, blushing furiously, "Oh, I understood that for sure. Um, Bakura…? Is this true that you intended to replace me with my best friend?"

"Ah… NO! That's not true, Ryou, I missed you was all…" He finished lamely, glaring at Marik who was laughing at him. "Shut up…"

"Oh. Is that so, 'Kura?" Ryou sauntered over to his yami, a sickly-sweet smile on his face, "Well, if you missed me so terribly bad, then why didn't you just CALL! YOU BAKA! I'VE BEEN AWAY ALL WEEK, STUCK AT SOME TERRIBLE CRUMPET PARTY AND I THOUGHT YOU'D FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT ME!"

Bakura quickly hid behind Marik and started to whine, "B-But, Ryou…!"

"Harsh." Marik and Malik said in unison.

Ryou turned on Marik, "And you! What's all this about drilling a hole in my floor? I-I mean, I guess you've fixed it by now, but… Stealing? And if I know you, it would've been from old women, am I correct?"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch." He huffed, "I did it for you, you should be excited that someone would waste a perfectly good Tuesday afternoon stealing five thousand dollars from the elderly. Ungrateful British…"

Bakura growled at him, "Watch it…"

"Oh, so now you're sticking up for THAT hikari, are you? You are such a fickle person. Which one do you want? Malik or Ryou? Well, I'll tell you one thing, if you're going to take Malik, I'm gonna take Ryou off your hands."

"You will do no such thing!" Bakura ran over to Ryou and picked him up. "Not a soul is taking my hikari away from me! Uh… Malik, I didn't try and take you away from Marik, but you were my bab… yami-sitter and I was making sure you didn't forget it!"

Ryou sighed, tired of all this arguing, "… Well, I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. As for you Malik, as far as I'm concerned, this was your fault. I told you not to put them in the same house…"

"But, I-"

"Aw, it's okay. But I'm not going to pay for you lost television…!" He called back before Bakura dragged him out of the door, slamming it behind them. When they were gone, Malik turned to his yami who was whistling innocently, trying to sneak into the kitchen.

"Marik…!"

"Uh, yes, Malik?"

"Golden Girls comes on in five minutes and you're going to go into the shadow realm and retrieve it!"

"Aw, what!"

…

Meanwhile, on the street, Ryou and Bakura were walking down the side walk and were almost to their house. Ever since they'd left Marik and Malik's house, they'd been walking in silence, side by side and in a minute, Bakura looked over at Ryou, who had initiated the silent treatment.

"… Ryou…! Stop ignoring me, you're acting like Malik…"

He turned away, "From what I've heard, Bakura dear, Malik has done everything but ignore you."

"But I just missed you was all. I wasn't thinking clearly. It's not my fault and Marik was mean to me after all." After receiving a troubling glance, Bakura amended, "Okay, okay… Maybe he did have a reason, but he was still overreacting. And Ryou, I did miss you a lot! Can you blame me if I wanted Malik to be my _friend_?"

He raised an eyebrow, but it had no effect. "Alright, Bakura. I forgive you, just this once. And I suppose having Malik for a_ friend_ isn't so bad… But I'm warning you Bakura. If you ever so much as look at another hikari, I'll…! Humph! I brought you into this world and I'll take you out."

"…! Uh, excuse me?"

.**THE END**….

Her Sweetness: Thank you, thank you. .:bows:. My next fanfics will be coming soon. Yes, I have chosen out of about ten ideas… And I had no help! Oh well. Thus is the woes of a fanfics writer and I'm sure you all know those woes.

Please wait for my next fic, I'm dieing to show you! .: Chibi smile:.


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